Didn't see a similar thread elsewhere so I thought it might be worth starting one. The reserves played Blackburn tonight and lost 3-2 due to a late (and controversial) penalty. Eccleston scored the 2 liverpool goals and they can be viewed here 1)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlkCl7Z6JuA 2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWx6EEnGcak Thanks to JD77 on RAWK for the links. Great to see him back on form, he had a great season with the youth team 2 years ago but suffered some injuries last year and struggled a bit. Here's the team: Jacob (he's apparently a young Australian on trial), Degen, Kyrgiakos (Kelly 46), Ayala, Darby, Eccleston, Spearing, Plessis (Palsson 79), Bruna (Amoo 84), Ngog, Pacheco. Subs: Belford, Irwin. The youth team won their last match 3-1 LDV scored twice
How did Kyrgiakos play ? There was some talk that he gives away a lot of frees for holding etc - any sign of that ??
Saw the game, Kyrgiakos played ok, could see he's ring rusty, but didn't have a great deal to do, but he did enough. Poor keeper, young Jacob only looks about 5', & was unfortunate with Ayala's own goal. However the third Blackburn goal, was very debatable to say the least. Spearing challenged Santa Cruz's brother, & looked to have won the ball cleanly, but when Santa Cruz went down like he'd been hit by a sniper the ref decided to award the spot kick. Eccleston played very well, should've had his hat trick.
Reserves romp to bolton triumph Liverpool Reserves claimed their first success of the Barclays Premier Reserve League North season with a comfortable 3-1 win over Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday night. A first-half strike from Gerardo Bruna, a bizarre goal from substitute Jordy Brouwer and a late third from Alex Kacaniklic secured the three points for John McMahon's men as they got life at their new Prenton Park home off to a winning start. Adam Blakeman did pull one back for the Trotters on the hour mark but it was not enough to deny the home side, who provided the perfect response to last week's opening day defeat at Blackburn Rovers. Ahead of the clash, McMahon opted to give a debut to French teenager Chris Mavinga and all eyes were trained on the former Paris Saint German starlet as he kicked off his Liverpool career alongside Daniel Ayala at the heart of the defence. However, it was a familiar face in the form of Bruna who caught the eye in the early exchanges, firing a seventh minute shot well wide, before he brought some much-needed cheer to the spectators that had braved the rain by giving the Reds the lead on 15 minutes. Nikola Saric was tripped on the edge of the visitors' penalty area, allowing the Argentina-born playmaker to step up and crash a deflected effort beyond the dive of Adam Bogdan. A head injury to Trotters defender Joe Riley then forced a lengthy stoppage in play that did little to help the flow of the game, with the adverse weather conditions also hindering the hosts' attempts to play their usual game. When play finally resumed Rhys Bennett headed a rare Bolton chance over the top from a left wing corner on 25 minutes before Stephen Irwin cut in from the left and scuffed a low 20 yarder that was easily gathered by Bogdan. With half-time approaching the downpour of torrential rain subsided, sparking an instant improvement in the quality of football, with Liverpool finishing the half by creating a raft of chances. On 35 minutes Irwin and Eccleston combined well down the left flank to carve the Bolton rearguard wide open, but unfortunately for the home side no-one was on hand to turn home the latter's low ball across the six yard box. The Reds continued to look the more likely and a well worked corner minutes later saw Bruna pick out Dani Pacheco just outside the area, but the Spaniard's sizzling drive flew just wide of the upright. David Amoo then showed Chris Stokes a clean pair of heels before ghosting into the penalty area on the right hand side and crashing a near post shot wide from a tight angle. After a slow start it had developed into 45 minutes of one-way traffic, but deep into first-half injury-time Peter Gulacsi was forced to produce an outstanding save to keep out Javlon Campbell's testing drive after Mavinga had been caught in possession inside his own penalty area. With the warning of Bolton's threat on the counter-attack still fresh in their minds, the Reds restarted the match determined to double their advantage. A searching run and cross from Amoo was volleyed just wide by Saric before Bruna clipped the bar direct from a right-wing corner. The writing was on the wall for the visitors and Liverpool finally got their second of the game on 55 minutes, albeit via somewhat fortuitous circumstances. Brouwer replaced Saric on 54 minutes and within seconds of taking to the field was celebrating a goal, chasing down a back pass and charging Bogdan's attempted clearance into an empty net. At this point it looked like being a question of how many Liverpool would score, but the away side began to rally and got back into it following an almighty goalmouth melee on 59 minutes. A cross from the right found Michael O'Halloran who cut inside before drilling in a shot that was beaten away by Gulacsi. Mavinga then cleared off the line when the rebound fell for Danny Ward before the Reds stopper was again forced to parry into the path of Blakeman who crashed home from inside the six yard box. Liverpool responded and could have extended their lead soon after with Bogden forced to make smart saves to deny both Pacheco and Bruna. With the away side pushing for an equaliser, Liverpool began to exploit the space and Kacaniklic sealed the points on 80 minutes when he pounced on a loose ball and fired into the bottom corner after Eccleston had seen his attempted shot blocked. Liverpool Reserves: Peter Gulacsi, Stephen Darby, Stephen Irwin, Daniel Ayala (Emmanuel Mendy 85), Chris Mavinga, Victor Palsson, Nikola Saric (Jordy Brouwer 54), David Amoo (Alex Kacaniklic 68), Nathan Eccleston, Daniel Pacheco, Gerardo Bruna. Unused subs: Deale Chamberlain, Christopher Buchtmann. Bolton Reserves: Adam Bogdan, Joe Riley (Aaron Mooy 21), Chris Stokes, Sam Sheridan, Rhys Bennett, Chris Basham, Stuart McDonald, Adam Blakeman, Danny Ward, Javlon Campbell, Michael O'Halloran. Unused subs: Robert Lainton, Zoltan Harsanyi, Marcos Michail. Liverpoolfc.tv man of the match: Gerardo Bruna. Capped an inventive display with the opening goal.
Pacheco was differrent class tonight - no doubt he's the next reserve player to step up to the next level - best prospect we've had since Insua. John McMahon played him in central midfield and he really looked the part. Might be a bit soon for the lad, but thats his position.
Liverpoolfc.tv man of the match: Gerardo Bruna. Capped an inventive display with the opening goal.[/QUOTE] Whoever wrote this was watching a different game than me [or Jan Molby].
Agreed, surprised they listed Bruna as man of the match on the website report after Jan Molby giving Pacheco MOTM on the commentary. Nothing against Bruna, great technique etc, he could be just as good as Pacheco if he got a good run of games in his preferred position just off the strikers. Saw him play there for a few games last year and he ran the show.
Didn't get to watch it but heard Pachecho was the stand out player again tonight. Hope he has a similiar chance as Insua got. On a side note heard excellent things about Dalle Valle. Even rumours that Fulham enquired about him before the end of transfer window. He is the player we got in from Inter Milan, only 17.